Benedict Cumberbatch in The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses

[Arcadia]

Nice article: http://cumberchicken.tumblr.com/post/144430819727/benedict-cumberbatch-king-of-all-he-surveys

[J.P.]

Finally got to watch it. DE-LI-CIO-US.

 

Ben at his best, especially when he throws in the tiny comic bits - a look or a risen brow... and you cannot help but smile.
Loved the scene of Richard and his mother cursing him on the road. What a range of emotions, from irony to deep, deep hurt...

 

I think the part of his charm is continuous breaking the 4th wall. Trough this he is not only allowing us to see his inner world, but by witnessing his thoughts he make us to his confidant and even unintentional partner in crime.

 

I'm considering buying the DVDs. Maybe even all 6 of them.

[Arcadia]

Arrghh! Still don't know when it's going to show in the States. I want to see it NOW! (hff hff hff)

[J.P.]

Oh, I forgot - the kids were good. All of them.

[sfmpco]

Well, well, well.  Look what I just found on Youtube.  

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn8NHUt5ZH8

[J.P.]

Let's see how long it will last...

[Arcadia]

I feel his pain....

 

I am so going to enjoy this when it finally arrives. Or else.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

JP, it's been up for almost a month so we have a so far so good going at the moment.

 

Agreed Arcadia.

[Arcadia]

Okay, I'm watching this thing, and I feel like I've started in the middle. Who are all these people?

[sfmpco]

Apparently the date for it to air in the USA is Dec. 11, 9:00 PM on PBS.  Of course, we'll have all seen the DVD by then, but whatever.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

It's crazy that the mini-series is airing more than 6 months after the UK.  Even the first 2 series of Sherlock weren't that far after the UK.  looking forward to it nonetheless as I guarantee I won't have the DVD's yet.

[Arcadia]

I've been (avert your eyes if you don't want to see illegal activity) watching it online. I decided to watch all three, because RIII wasn't making any sense to me at all. Once I got used to the cadence of Shakespearean English, I'm pleasantly surprised to discover I can follow it pretty easily.

 

I'm not so pleasantly surprised to find that the production values are a bit, er, sub par. Budget constraints, one assumes. But it's distracting. And I'm sorry to say that the actor who plays Henry VI simply grates on my nerves.

 

Sophie Okonedo is a marvel, however. So far, she's the best thing in it. Haven't seen much of that Cumberbatch dude yet, I assume he'll be okay too. He enunciates well, at least!

[J.P.]

 

I'm not so pleasantly surprised to find that the production values are a bit, er, sub par.

Would you like to elaborate?

 

Haven't seen much of that Cumberbatch dude yet, I assume he'll be okay too.

It depends how you define okay :P

[Slithytove]

As far as Tom Sturridge as Henry VI was concerned, I thought he did well enough with a very wishy-washy character.  It can't be the most rewarding role to play.  Henry might have been one of our nicer kings if he had lived in a peaceful era and been allowed to concentrate on building churches and schools but, of course, he was hopeless as a monarch in a country torn by internal and civil war.

 

Benedict, naturally, was superb.

[Arcadia]

 

I'm not so pleasantly surprised to find that the production values are a bit, er, sub par.

Would you like to elaborate?

 

Hm... you know how sometimes you see a TV show that's just so good that you have no problem imagining it as a theatrical feature? Like ASiB, for instance; it has some of the most gorgeous cinematography I've seen in a TV show; classier than a lot of movies.

 

Well, this "Hollow Crown" series isn't like that ... from the first frame, it screamed "made for television" at me. I don't know if it's something like using a cheaper grade of film, or maybe it's something to do with the lighting? I'm not that savvy on the technical stuff, maybe sfmpco could help us out here. But for some reason I was expecting it to have a more cinematic feel than it does, and I was (unreasonably, I now realize) put off by that.

 

Have you ever seen the American production "Gettysburg?" I've heard that it was shown in theaters in other countries, but here it was solely a TV movie, and looked like it. If you've seen it, that may give you some idea what I mean.

 

Does that help?

 

(Oh -- in all fairness, I am watching this on Y**T**e! Maybe the quality I expected is there, but lost in, er, transition - ?)

 

 

As far as Tom Sturridge as Henry VI was concerned, I thought he did well enough with a very wishy-washy character.  It can't be the most rewarding role to play.

Oh, it's not his performance, exactly, it's his voice. I don't quite know how to explain it, but he just sounds too 20th century to suit me; it jars me out of the story. But that's probably not a fair criticism, as I'm sure none of them have a true 15th century accent!

[Arcadia]

Just finished watching the last 20 minutes of Henry VI part 2. Holy crap!

[Arcadia]

Okay, just finished the whole thing.

 

Wow.

[sittything]

Uh, I did not know that Andrew Scott is also in The Hollow Crown.

[Arcadia]

Yep. French king.

[Boton]

 

I'm not so pleasantly surprised to find that the production values are a bit, er, sub par. Budget constraints, one assumes. But it's distracting. And I'm sorry to say that the actor who plays Henry VI simply grates on my nerves.

 

 

 

I just finished watching the whole thing.  I watched RIII, which I really enjoyed, but I was a little confused on characters.  (Hey! British history class was a loooong time ago!).  So I watched HVI, both parts at a go.  I think I might be slightly warped, because my big take away is that all of this really does a lot to explain Henry VIII when we get to him.  

 

Henry VI is just bat-guano crazy (which I think the actor did a good job of conveying by being annoying as heck).  Richard is sane but completely murderous and ruthlessly expedient.  (So, naturally, I was rooting for Richard, because he was more interesting.)  And that explains Henry VIII a few decades down the road: the natural result of Lancastrian craziness and Yorkian murderousness and expedience.  Well done, Tudors.  With those genetics, maybe the best thing Elizabeth I ever did was decline to reproduce.

 

(My apologies to anyone who has a deep love of the Lancasters, Yorks, Tudors, or the British monarchy.  I'm not British, and I am a smart aleck, so.....)

[besleybean]

Well, as an Englishwoman(from Yorkshire), sitting next to my hubby(from Lancashire) living in Scotland...I feel qualified!

I am  a total Republican.

But by all measures, the Tudors were pretty rubbish...only marginally better than the Stuarts!

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Finally tonight the US gets The Hollow Crown: The War of the Roses on PBS.

[besleybean]

It's a goodie.

But make sure you watch series one, as well.

[sfmpco]

I watched the first part tonight, and I thought it was odd to finally be on TV when the DVDs have been out for some time (and I have the DVDs, but Cumberbatch or not, Shakespeare is not generally my cuppa, so I haven't even taken off the plastic wrapper).

[J.P.]

From S1 I liked the one with Irons and Hiddlestone, the others… were okay.